'Offensive' tampon ad banned after ASAI received 84 complaints

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[–]MezozoicGay 34 insightful - 3 fun34 insightful - 2 fun35 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

I see. Biology is offensive nowadays.

Young girls (and actually boys too) need to know how to deal with their body, how to use hygiene products. And such themes should not be considered as "taboo", so teens can discuss them and will not be "something is wrong, but I am afraid to speak about it with anyone" - and ending up with some serious problem or disease.

[–]yousaythosethings 28 insightful - 1 fun28 insightful - 0 fun29 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ugh those comments. There’s a difference between an ad being cringy and it being offensive and unfit for air. I think most ads are pretty cringy. I don’t write in to get them canceled. And these women saying that menstrual care isn’t a spectator sport - how is an ad for menstrual care that aims to be informative not better than one where women in bikinis are jumping off a boat to go swimming and then a computer graphic shows an unrealistic simulation of a blue liquid being poured onto a pad?

It would probably be jarring to see this commercial but we have to ask ourselves why? Menstruation should not be something considered shameful when every other part of women’s bodies are considered up for display for sexual gratification of viewers.

[–]Realwoman 23 insightful - 1 fun23 insightful - 0 fun24 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

A company's research shows that many users use their product incorrectly and they air an ad about how to use the product correctly and somehow that's demeaning? Are all educational videos demeaning now, they assume that the viewer doesn't know about the subject, correct? Are teenage girls supposed to naturally know how to use tampons, so it's demeaning to teach them?

[–]PassionateIntensity 19 insightful - 1 fun19 insightful - 0 fun20 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is a genuinely helpful ad. If I had been told it needed to be up higher and you shouldn't feel it, I would've started using them as a teen. I know I'm not the only one who was doing it wrong the first time I tried to use them.

[–]Ossidiana 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Only 84 small complaints out of zillions of people watching the ads. And they took it down. You'd find 84 people willing to file a complaint on a particularly TRAs subreddit. Yeah, makes me think they wanted to take it down from the start, to look woke. They were just waiting for someone, anyone, to complain. And hey presto, publicity.

[–]worried19 14 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 0 fun15 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

It said that in Ireland, advertising for feminine care products was not permitted on programmes with an audience expected to be at least 50% children under 18, and that there were restrictions for advertising feminine care products on UK stations transmitting to Ireland for programmes with an audience comprised 20% or more of children under 16.

That's bizarre. Does the Catholic church have some kind of moral problem with menstruation?

[–]JoanofArc5 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Right. Children under 18 menstruate, wtf?

[–]Barber_Acrobatic 4 insightful - 4 fun4 insightful - 3 fun5 insightful - 4 fun -  (0 children)

Every period is an unfertilised egg that could have been a bayyyyybeee! Honestly I'm surprised they don't make us collect our periods into mugs to freeze into baby shaped blobs

[–]MonstrousRegiment 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

There's a great rant by Ciara Kelly on this video

[–]VioletRemi 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thatnks for sharing, great words from her!

[–]ThisReality 8 insightful - 2 fun8 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

That ad probably would be banned from American TV too. And yet this wasn't. I remember seeing a shorter version of it.

[–]lefterfield 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There's nothing wrong with that ad. Seems far more useful than those ads with the weird blue liquid being tossed onto a pad.

[–]Marsupial 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

People being shocked and terrified at the mere mention of girls learning how their body functions. And children are not traumatized by accidentally hearing about how a tampon functions on tv, holy fuck. This outrage is just another example of how women's and girls' bodies are constantly sexualized to the extent that we can't even discuss something completely non-sexual like a period that is a completely natural thing about women's bodies that happens every month without people reaching for the smelling salts. It's ridiculous. All they did was to describe how to use it with their hands, it's not like they had a close-up demonstration with an actual vagina.

Young girls need to learn how to interact with their bodies. They need to know how to insert a tampon. The presence of a vagina does not mean it's sexual. This is not education on how to use a dildo, this is about using hygiene products.